reading

Rereading

Bardees, Leave a comment

I hardly re-read any paperback books. The only books I usually re-read are audiobooks because I miss a lot of the content first time round. However, this is my 4th year reading The Daily Stoic. This is such a good annual read that I highly recommend.

Whenever I see something underlined or highlighted by my past self I get mixed feelings. Sometimes I feel “I hardly changed, this part still amazes me“. Other times I feel “That does not resonate with me anymore“. Many times I wonder what I was thinking when I circled a passage many times. I always highlight new parts that stand out to me but did not before.

Rereading a book is a lot like rereading old journal entries where you meet a younger version of you. You feel you changed a lot and not that much simultaneously. It is a beautiful feeling. That’s why I’m more convinced I need to take book notes because they are also a documentation of who we are when we read those books.

Rereading

New superpower

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I read a lot, however, I noticed that since starting writing here daily I have been reading differently. I am noticing the various writing styles and the expressions used so much more. I re-read sentences just to take in how clearly and concisely they were written. It is as if I am acquiring a new superpower, a new set of eyes. What a treat.

New superpower

Digital Hoarding

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Sometimes when I think of all the online courses, audiobooks and kindle books I have access to, I get dizzy and overwhelmed.

When will I ever get through those?

I want to re-frame this question into a gratitude statement:

I am grateful that I am lucky to have such wide access to knowledge.

What I need, though, is to remember:

Digital Hoarding

Apps I love: Readwise

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An application I’m adoring these days is readwise. After using it for a month I’ll recommend it to anyone who uses Kindle for reading.

Readwise brings back all those books I read years ago on my Kindle through a digest of my own highlights sent by a daily email and their super app. It can also save twitter threads for you, how cool is that?

What I like about Readwise is that I don’t only remember what I read, I remember who I was when I read those books and feel proud of all the long hours I put into reading. It gives so much joy to use it and I can save and share favorite highlights in social media-friendly formats.

Click my link to get a free one-month trial and see for yourself.

HT to @AliAbdaal for pointing me towards Readwise.

Apps I love: Readwise

No book will save you

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Don’t get me wrong. A book after another saved me when I needed saving. But it’s time for me to stop “the hunt”. And you too.

You will save you. You appreciating what you already gained. You using all the resources you have instead of looking for the new shiny thing out there. You getting engaged with the ideas you read. You implementing what you learn. You taking action and learning from your own mistakes. You learning from others’ mistakes without having to go through their whole experience. You reflecting on your days and weeks and months and years. You changing course when things stop working. You pushing forward knowing it only might be the dip. You announcing your commitments and living up to them. You sharing what you think. You asking for feedback and accepting it as the gift it is from the generous souls in your life. You showing up without seeing tangible progress daily trusting that the compound interest will be totally worth it.

It’s you first.

Then find people who are like you and carry on together.

You can’t do it alone.

No book will save you

This is How You Get Better

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This is how we get better in knowledge areas we’re interested in:

  • We read about what we want to learn about.
  • We improve how we think/work/live by implementing what we learned.
  • We share about it by writing/podcasting/art making…etc.
  • We read some more.
  • We fine-tune what we learned and keep sharing.

As I commit to writing more here daily, I am finding that I am better understanding the topics that interest me most and get me so eager to share about in this space and in other mediums.

It’s really fascinating.

This is How You Get Better